


This Felt A Lot Like [Karma]

by YouCanJive



Series: Time is the Longest Distance (Between Two Places) [9]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Gen, Late Night Conversations, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-17
Updated: 2019-07-17
Packaged: 2020-06-29 22:35:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19839910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YouCanJive/pseuds/YouCanJive
Summary: “Hey, kid. What deep mysteries are we pondering on tonight?” Tony greeted cheerfully as he returned to the pieces he’d been working on.“Oh, you know, just the answer to life, the universe, everything…” Darcy responded casually.





	This Felt A Lot Like [Karma]

“Sir, you have a call from Miss Lewis.”

Tony lifted his protective mask and looked up from the parts he’d been working on to glance at the time on the screen projection near his work bench. It was past 10:30pm, which meant it was nearing 2am on the East Coast.

Remembering their last late-night chat with a smile, Tony asked JARVIS to connect the call.

“Hey, kid. What deep mysteries are we pondering on tonight?” he greeted cheerfully as he returned to the pieces he’d been working on.

“Oh, you know, just the answer to life, the universe, everything…” Darcy responded casually. Tony breathed out a small laugh and reached back for the soldering gun he’d been using before.

“Are we settling for 42 tonight, or do we need some more research?”

“Jury’s still out,” Darcy responded, but she sounded distracted enough that Tony knew there was something on her mind. He let the silence stretch out, letting Darcy fill it as he put down the soldering gun and pushed off on the floor to wheel his chair over to another table, looking for a particular tool.

It took her until he was back at his table, tools in hand, to speak again.

“I had sex,” Darcy said, very quickly, and Tony dropped the tools he’d been holding with a clank.

He hadn’t seen that one coming.

He took a deep breath and turned on his chair, leaning back and staring off at nothing in particular.

“Ok…” he said slowly, trying to gather his thoughts. “And… how do we feel about this?”

His voice was slightly higher than usual and he wondered if Darcy could hear how disconcerted he was.

“Fine?” Darcy asked in response, dragging the word out with uncertainty. Tony sat up, putting his elbows on his knees, because that was not a great answer. Before he could say anything, though, Darcy continued. “Fine,” she repeated, more assertively, her voice at a more normal pitch. “Good,” she continued.

Tony relaxed slightly. But he still had no idea what to do with this conversation.

“It was nice,” she finally settled on.

Over the line, Tony heard the faint rustling and squeaky creak he’d learned to associate with Darcy shuffling around in her dorm bed. He wondered if she was alone. When she said she’d had sex, did she mean _just now_?

“And who’s the lucky guy? Or gal!” he quickly added, not wanting to pressure her, but also remembering one too many lectures from Darcy about _the_ _patriarchy and its stupid cousin, heteronormativity_ over the last few weeks. Darcy snorted at his quick amendment, clearly seeing right through him.

“His name’s Rob,” she answered. “He’s in my philosophy class.”

Tony remembered the name. He was friends with Darcy, or at least friendly, and he’d cropped up in a few of her stories before. He’d barely been a blip on Tony’s radar before, but now he made a mental note to have JARVIS look into him ASAP.

He took a breath and opened his mouth to say something, even though he had no idea what he was going to say, but he was being too quiet.

Darcy, however, seemed content to maintain the one-sided conversation.

“I went over to watch some Doctor Who,” she explained. “And then next thing I know I’m kissing him and I swear that wasn’t my intention when I went over, but he is a _really good kisser, Tony,_ and one thing led to another and _we had sex_. And then we cuddled and we fell asleep but that was two days ago and _I don’t know what to do now_.”

Alright, at least now Tony knew what Darcy was looking for with this phone call.

She was freaking out. She wanted advice.

God help her if he was her best source of advice on relationships.

“Take a deep breath, kid. Let’s take this from the top. Did you _want_ to have sex with him?”

He’d gathered she had from what she’d said so far, but he had to be sure.

“Yeah,” she responded after a moment. “It wasn’t… I wasn’t trying to seduce him or anything, but I’d been thinking about it.”

“Ok, good.” The knot in Tony’s chest loosened at that. “Next question,” and he had to take a couple deep breaths to brace himself, because how on earth had he ended up in this role? “Were you” _How was this his life?_ “…safe?”

She squeaked and Tony tried to be patient, but Christ, how did she have the _gall_ to be embarrassed about this. _She_ was the one who’d called _him_ to talk about it _._ He was trying to be helpful and adult here, but if anybody should want out of this conversation, it should be him, damn it.

Tony didn’t really believe in karma, but this felt a lot like it.

“Darcy?” he insisted.

“Yes,” she whispered at last.

“Great,” he breathed. “Million-dollar question now: do you want to have sex with him _again_?” If he sounded like asking the question was causing him physical pain, _it was not his fault_.

“Yeah,” she answered, sounding once more like she was asking a question, her voice rising to an unprecedented high note.

“Ok, k–” Yeah, no, no way he could call her ‘kid’ while having this conversation. “–Darce, this is what you do…”


End file.
